Business opportunity?
Incentives offered for biodiesel, tech firms
Luther Turmelle, North Bureau Chief
11/13/2007
HARTFORD — State officials are launching a pair of programs designed to
promote high-technology businesses and alternative energy industry in
the state.
The Connecticut Center for
Advanced Technology is administering the programs with funding from a
$5 million grant from the Department of Economic and Community
Development.
One, called the Small Business Incubator
Program, will provide grants to high-tech companies operating in
incubator facilities. The other will offer per-gallon financial
incentives to companies that produce biodiesel.
Department of
Economic Development Commissioner Joan McDonald said the two
initiatives "are great examples of how the state can team up with
industry organizations so that everyone wins."
"With DECD’s
leadership and resources, and the expertise of an organization like
CCAT, we can help expand our economy and promote energy policies, which
in turn helps fuel overall economic growth," McDonald said.
The
Center for Advanced Technology in East Hartford works with partners in
industry, government and academia to promote innovation and
entrepreneurship.
The two programs, Gov. M. Jodi Rell said in a
prepared statement, "will help us grow good, quality jobs in emerging
industries. We want to do all we can to create a growth environment for
high-tech start-up companies and producers and distributors of
biodiesel. Providing these financial incentives will make Connecticut
more competitive and more attractive in the global marketplace."
The Center for Advanced Technology will begin accepting applications for the Small Business Incubator Program Dec. 1.
On
the same date, the center will begin offering grants to biodiesel
producers. The grants will offer producers 30 cents a gallon for the
first 5 million gallons produced, 20 cents a gallon for the next 5
million gallons, and 10 cents a gallon for the next 5 million gallons
produced beyond that.
Grants will also be available for equipment, storage and distribution, said Adam Liegeo, a spokesman for the governor.
Biodiesel
is a fuel derived partly from renewable sources, such as crops. While
the new programs will offer incentives to biodiesel producers, the
state does not provide any financial incentives to farmers who grow the
crops used in the fuel.
Liegeot said that Rell believes "that to
stay competitive with the rest of the country and to compete for jobs,
we need to be aggressive in providing incentives so that all aspects of
this emerging industry can grow."
But he stopped short of saying whether Rell would champion financial incentives for growers of biofuel-related crops.
